Survival Rate, Total Antioxidant Capacity and Malondialdehyde in Drosophila melanogaster Exposed to Bronze Borne Soil Samples in Benin City, South-South Nigeria

Drosophila melanogaster serves as an important research model organism in the fields of genetics and developmental biology. Recent studies have indicated the use of Drosophila in a number of other studies such as metabolic, nanotoxicological and immunological studies. Rearing of fly in the laboratory condition is an important task to work with this organism. To maintain the growth and development of the flies where the components of the food play important roles, this is done by mixing the compounds with fly food in proper concentration. Drosophila used in various toxicological or metabolic studies often involve oral intake of various nanoparticles, pathogens and molecules to study metabolism. This present study aimed at investigating the survival rate, total antioxidants capacity and malondialdehyde levels in Drosophila melanogaster exposed to bronze borne soil sample. A comparative cross-sectional study was matched in the parameters, the work was carried out on bronze borne soil sample collected from various locations; Igun foundry site, environmental and University of Benin to check the total antioxidant and malondialdehyde level, the methods employed was Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Kinetic method (MDA/TBARS). Data were analysed using T test at 0.05 and were represented with the reference range. The result obtained showed that total antioxidant capacity was high in factory bronze soil sample compared to other soil samples which indicate high oxidative stress in Drosophila exposed to it. Total antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde shows no significant variation and value. From the study it was observed that the level of total antioxidants capacity (marker for oxidative stress) was significantly higher and malondialdehyde (marker for lipid peroxidation) in Drosophila melanogaster was significantly lower when exposed to bronze borne soil sample. The survival rate of Drosophila melanogaster decreased with exposure to the concentration of bronze borne soil sample with high level of oxidative stress.